Kaden Azimuth: Alister's Son
by Lane The Bored Writer
Summary: In a parallel Universe where Alister is still alive and friends with Ratchet, he has a son named Kaden (named after Ratchet's father). Kaden is eager to learn more about his family history as well as his namesake, and it leads him on a galaxy-wide adventure.
1. Intro

My name is Kaden Azimuth. I am a Lombax. My father is Alister Azimuth. He says I'm named after a friend of his who died too soon, but I'm not quite sure who. He's not in the history books anywhere. But Dad has a friend who is supposedly Kaden's son. His name is Ratchet Cross. According to the family-finding websites I've searched, Ratchet is related to another Lombax, Angela Cross. And apparently Kaden and Dad were adopted brothers, but Alister kept his last name. This is all very strange, but I'm sure I'll find out more and fill in some holes along my adventure. I've decided to go out and discover things. I'm done living on the desert planet called Veldin. I've been saving up my Bolts for a ship. It's not really a nice one, but it'll get me where I'm going. It's a green courier ship. It's kinda clunky, and it guzzles gelatonium like you wouldn't believe, but I like it. My father doesn't know I'm leaving, but Ratchet does. He's agreed to come along with me, and I'm sure I'm going to need his help along the way.


	2. It Begins

Author's Note: I'm really sorry if you don't like this story, it's just that I have absolutely no inspiration for this. I want to keep writing it, but I haven't got an idea where I'm headed. So don't be surprised if it goes unfinished, like my other Ratchet and Clank fanfic.

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**CHAPTER 1: IT BEGINS**

The day has finally come. It's time for me and Ratchet to leave and go search for our family history. I get out of school and race home on my hoverboots. When I get there, Ratchet is waiting for me next to the tarp I keep my ship under.

"Road trip!" Ratchet says. My father walks out of the house, ears up.

"Did somebody say 'road trip'?" he asks. He's in his favorite clothes: a black t-shirt, some jeans, and a pair of hoverboots identical to mine.

Ratchet, despite me giving him a nervous throat-slashing motion and rapidly shaking my head, says "Yeah! We're going to search our family's history! Wanna come with us?"

"Yes I do," dad says, catching me completely off guard. I was expecting him to say no and ground me for the rest of the year, then sell my ship. "Actually, Ratchet, I was thinking you and Clank could stay here and hold down the fort while Kaden and I went. I want to bond with my son; you can't have him all to yourself, you know." He snickers and playfully slugs Ratchet's shoulder. I look around.

"Dad? Are you being sarcastic? Because if you are, you're really fooling me."

"No, Kaden, I'm not being sarcastic. I really want to go on this trip with you."

"Yeah, we'll hold down the fort," Ratchet says. "Just call us if you find anything about my family."

"So it's final then!" Dad says. I'm kind of happy, because I've never been anywhere that my dad approved of.

"Well, let's go," I said, pulling the tarp off my ship and grabbing the keys. The hatch opens and I climb in the driver's seat. Dad gets into the passenger's seat and I close the hatch. I wave goodbye to Ratchet and we take off into the sunset. I look at the clock, and it's 5:30 PM, on a cold winter day. The thermometer reads 60 degrees Fahrenheit. What a funny word. History books say it was created from a primitive planet called Earth. It doesn't exist anymore, but apparently we also got our language, English, from the people of that planet. The place was in the Milky Way Galaxy, in the Eighth System. The sun there has long since died, and the two planets remaining are now classified as asteroids. As we left orbit of Veldin and set off towards Metropolis, Dad started talking and wouldn't stop. He told me about memories of the great times he'd had with Kaden, being the best man at his and Lorna's wedding, and hoverbooting in Krell Canyon. At one point he broke down in tears and I had to stop at the nearby gelatonium station and hug him so that he would stop. We decided that he'd never talk about the subject of Kaden's death at the hands of Percival Tachyon unless it was absolutely necessary. I decided to go into the store for some snacks while Dad waited in the ship. As soon as I went inside, I got a look from the cashier.

"A Lombax! You don't see very many of those around anymore, do you?" I got some snacks for Dad and me, then I got two bladder-buster drinks and paid for them. The cashier gave me a discount "because I was a Lombax and that was a rare sight to see". I left the store and walked back to the ship. It was done refueling, so I paid and got back in. I handed Dad the snacks I'd bought for him and handed him his drink.

"I'd hang on to that if I were you," I say. "I'm going to go fast getting out of here. Metropolis, Kerwan, here we come!" I gun the gas.


	3. Capture

**CHAPTER 2: CAPTURE**

As we pull out of the gel station, the silence is unbearable.

So I say, "Why'd you want to come on this trip with me? Why didn't you want me to stay home? I expected that you'd ground me and sell my ship."

"Well," he starts, "I want to find out more about our family as well."

"That's what we're doing, I guess," I say. We continue on in silence. When it becomes unbearable again, I turn on the radio. The first thing that comes on is a news report from Darla Gratch.

"Flint Vorselon has been spotted in the Solana Galaxy, near planet Veldin. If you come into contact with this villain, do not try to apprehend him yourself. Instead, contact the Galactic Rangers. They will handle the situation themselves."

"Oh, man," I say. "Isn't that the guy you and Ratchet dealt with in the Polaris Galaxy?"

"Yes, but I thought Ratchet destroyed him! At least, that's what he's told me. We can't afford to be in this area much longer. Let me take the wheel." I clamber into the passenger's seat as he moves into the driver's seat. As soon as I'm buckled, Dad guns the ship towards Kerwan. It's now only three hundred cubits away.

"Um… Dad?" I say.

"Not now, Kaden! We're almost there!"

"About that, you may want to look in the mirror." He does as I say, and he sees it too. There's a gigantic green ship following us, and worse: It's gaining on us. I feel my stomach jolt as Dad slams the pedal to the floor. The ship is still gaining, though. Now I wish I'd chosen a different ship. There's another jolt as something latches on to the back of our ship. I've never seen panic in my dad's eyes, but I could see it now. We were being pulled backwards, and Dad was still pushing the pedal to the floor. He almost broke it. Eventually our engine blew and the ship gave up entirely. A transmission came on the navigation screen.

"Alister Azimuth," the man says. "So we meet again. Do you remember the last time we saw each other? Your exit was quite unpleasant. But it's alright, it's all in the past if you surrender!"

"Never," I hear Dad say.

"And what about you, child?"

"Never," I say.

"So be it," Vorselon says angrily. We're moving even faster, until we're in the ship's airlock. A strange pinkish gas starts to fill our ship.

"Cryosleep," Dad says. "Kaden, cover your mouth!" But it's too late. We've both breathed it in already, and my eyelids are sagging. I struggle to stay awake, but it's no use. The last thing I see is Dad slumped over in the seat. The gas takes over and I drift into a soft, peaceful sleep.


	4. Escape

Author's note: This chapter is so much longer than usual, it's just that I had a lot of creativity flowing through me for the escape. Enjoy!

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**CHAPTER 3: ESCAPE**

The first thing I see when I wake up is an ugly fish head controlling a robotic body. Dad is on the other side of the room, strapped to a table and unconscious. So am I. We're both spread-eagled, and there's an array of scary-looking devices over both of us. Our heads have suction cups on them with wires sticking out and leading to the console Vorselon is standing next to.

"Ready to surrender?" He asks.

"Did you not hear me say no?" I say. I spit at him too. It lands on his fish bowl of a head.

"Let's test this machine I've created, then." He turns a knob and suddenly electricity is flowing through my body. I'm convulsing and in so much pain that I'm screaming. It lets off, and my muscles relax. I'm sweating now, but the pain is subsiding. Dad wakes up now, and Vorselon bombards him with the exact same question, and gets the exact same answer. He turns another knob, and I can hear my dad screaming, and he's jolting all over the table he's strapped to, fighting the restraints. Vorselon turns the knob the other way, and Dad relaxes.

"Please give up, I really don't want to hurt you anymore," he says.

"What do you even want?" I ask.

"I want to kill your father! He is your father, right?"

"Why do you want to kill him? What did he ever do to you?"

"Play memory," he says, and our tables turn so that we're vertical and facing a screen. A video shows on the screen, and it's from the Great War, between the Lombaxes and the Cragmites.

Vorselon is running alongside several creatures, which I take for Cragmites. They're on a rocky planet, near a valley. Vorselon breaks from the group and heads into the valley on his left, and as he's running you can see his actual organic limbs. He stops next to a wall and pulls out a map. It shows the valley with a line running to a badly drawn Lombax head. Vorselon puts the map away, but before he has the chance to move away from the wall, I hear my father, with a younger voice.

"Kaden!" he yells. "I've found him!" Vorselon turns his head in the direction of the sound, but it's too late to do anything. He falls over onto his stomach and screams as the force of a boulder crushes all of his body except for his head. A Lombax jumps down from the top of the area and lands on the ground in front of Vorselon's head. One end of a double-bladed Praetorian Omniwrench slams against the ground.

"Trying to destroy the Lombaxes again, Vorselon? I thought you'd have learned from the last time you tried." The recorded memory ends. I guess it's a good reason to have a grudge on someone.

"Can someone please explain?" I blurt.

"Do you remember all those stories of Kaden and me and the Great War I used to tell you when you were younger?" my dad asks me.

"Yeah, why?" I ask.

"Well, there's one I never told you. Back when it seemed like the Lombaxes were going to lose, the Cragmites decided to do one final attack before killing us all. Fortunately, we had finished testing the Dimensionator. Our plan was simple: Open up a portal to another dimension on the front line of the battlefield, and every Cragmite would get sucked in. Vorselon here was trying to sneak into the main building and destroy it, so the Cragmites would win. I saw him break off from the group. Not only knowing him to be an assassin with a vendetta against the Lombaxes, but also seeing him on the Cragmites' side, I followed him for a bit until he pulled out that map. Once I saw the path leading to the Lombax base, I knew what he was up to, so I pushed that boulder over the side of that cliff, smashing him. Five years later, somehow he managed to break into the Hall of Knowledge and steal plans for a full body suit that he could control using only his thoughts. No one is sure how he did it, but as you can see, this filthy scumbag is wearing stolen Lombax technology."

"Enough!" Vorselon yells, turning Dad's knob again. Through all this distracting talking, I've managed to do three amazing things: I have slipped my hands out of the wrist holds, using all the sweat from the first electric shock, remove my shoes and slip my feet through those restraints as well, and the very last thing: I've escaped from the table. I move my shoulders and pop my ankles for a moment, making sure everything still works. I remember that my dad is still in pain and still being shocked, so I sneak up behind Vorselon and tap him on the shoulder. He looks behind him, but before he can see me I duck and leg sweep him. He falls on his back and I can see part of the fish tank his head is in crack. I quickly turn my Dad's knob back to its original position and rush over to help him free. Vorselon is starting to get up, despite the water that is now slowly leaking from his tank. Once my dad is free, I grab his arm and start running to the nearest exit. My dad pulls me the other way, saying that the hangar where our ship would be is in the opposite direction.

Vorselon presses a button on the console and says, "All troops on path to hangar. All troops on path to hangar." Dad and I start sprinting down hallways until we come to a giant gap that we could only traverse using swingshots.

"I have an idea," he says. "Grab on." I grab on to his back and he runs to the edge, pushing off the ground with the Praetorian Omniwrench he brings everywhere. I'm surprised Vorselon didn't put it somewhere more inaccessible. We're flying through the air, and suddenly we hit solid ground. I let go of Dad and we continue running to the hangar. A door opens and I can see the hangar, and I can see our ship, but there's one problem: Vorselon's guards. They're everywhere. And they've all got their guns trained on us. Dad is the first to act. He starts running through the hangar, smashing his wrench into everything breakable, while I look for anything that I can use as a weapon. After a short search, I find one. A small blaster from about ten years ago is just lying near a stack of crates. I run to it, grab it, and start shooting using my dad's strategy: hit anything that breaks. After a very short five minutes, Vorselon's entire force is demolished to nothing but piles of scrap. Our ship sits there in the hangar, unscratched. We both sprint to it and jump in, me in the driver's seat. I jam my finger on the print scanner to start the ship. It starts, and I slam the pedal to the floor. We're out of Vorselon's ship in less than ten seconds.


End file.
